This is a reblog of my site http://geekysweetie.com – Other stuff may appear here such as reblogs from other wordpress.com sites. I blog and reblog about anime, video games, kdrama, toys, technology, and kawaii fashion and decor.
I recently shared news of the launch of Alice Closet, a new free mobile game with anime artwork by famed manga artist Arina Tanemura. Arina’s works include Full Moon Wo Sagashite, Phantom Thief Jeanne, and Time Stranger Kyoko, just to name a few popular shoujo manga by this artist.
I have been playing the game since launch and I am loving it so far. I did purchase some of the cash items admittedly, but the game is free to play and the cash items are totally optional.
The game offers a lot of dressup options by allowing you to control 4 characters at once pretty early on in the game.
Gameplay: 10/10 Gameplay is similar to other anime dressup games. You play gacha or complete story levels, quests, and achievements to unlock new outfits for your characters. You can piece together unique outfits from multiple layered items such as Hair, hats, headbands, hair accessories (yes you can wear all 3 of those categories at once if you want), shoes, socks, pants, skirts, dresses, coats, leg accessories, arm accessories, hand held objects, floor objects, etc. Objects are ranked based on scores such as fancy, cute, elegant, cool, warm, rural, etc.
Use your outfits to complete story driven levels, or go head to head with other players in fashion battles. The fashion battles reset weekly with prizes going to those who rank well. You can see how you rank with friends or against the whole server.
You can unlock limited time titles, event items, and more by participating in the frequent time limited events and other special content. Since the game just launched, there are a lot of events going on right now. Some examples of in game events currently being held include a themed cafe “mini level” where you earn “cake”. It plays similar to the story levels of the game, all single player. You can trade the cakes for limited time outfits. You are also scored and ranked based on how many cakes you’ve collected throughout the event.
Other events include time limited gacha outfits that only stay around for a few days at a time. There’s also more permanent gacha and some even offer free spins every few hours.
Other gameplay elements include running your own store. You must serve NPC customers who come to your shop by fulfilling their requests by dressing them in your existing items (don’t worry you aren’t actually selling or losing your items). Example, a customer might request elegant hair accesories and socks and a budget of 5,000 gold.
After you serve your customers, you will earn points and again be scored and ranked each week for how successful your store is. You might also encounter VIP customers who if you service them repeatedly will reward you with rare outfits and more.
Story: 5/10 – A twist on Alice In Wonderland. I did read the story up through chapter 1-5 or so, I saw the berserk Alice and thought that was interesting. But at some times – most of the times honestly – the story drags. I started skipping story, but will occasionally read it still if something looks interesting.
The basic premise is that you are from Earth and meet a young man from another world when both of you suddenly get teleported to his world. He tells you about mana and seeds and Alice. Alice are lifelike dolls, and the world is full of Alice owners. Alice owners love to challenge eachother to dressup battles to see whose Alice is the most powerful. Meanwhile you’re searching for a way home.
Early in the game, there is a lot of foreshadowing about berserk Alice and bad things happening a long time ago. It begins to repeat itself but you and your Alice save the day. Shiki seems strange after that and mumbles about having seen something like that before. Edgar also seems to know more than he tells you.
After learning about the legendary Alice and berserk Alice, you are invited to a special Alice competition by invite only. A Strange rabbit appears too.
Characters 6/10 – The characters are all based on Alice in Wonderland – There’s Gren the mad hatter, Shiki (I dunno if he is the white rabbit or if the rabbit is the white rabbit), Edgar (I haven’t figured out who he most closely resembles, maybe the catepillar?), The queen of hearts, a Lolita girl (also haven’t decided which character she is supposed to be). Etc. I like this twist on a new Alice in Wonderland story. It’s something I’ve seen before in other anime and otome, but not quite like this. I also love the Alice(s) themselves as I collect real life anime dolls, so the game fondly reminds me of my dolls. And dressing up and customizing the Alices is the best part. Ultimately though the story and character development are too slow to grow deeply connected to any of the characters.
Voice Acting: 8/10 The characters are partially but not fully voiced. There are a few typos in dialogue and the voices are in Japanese only at this time. The voice acting is actually good though.
Music: 6/10 Not many tracks, but the ones that are there are very nice.
Graphics: 10/10 – definitely the highlight of this game is the gorgeous artwork by Arina Tanemura. I would play this game just for the artwork alone. Some items are even animated. So many options with layering and other things too. It’s a beautiful game, especially for shoujo or lolita fans.
Replay Value: 10/10 – so many events, limited time items, quests, and daily tasks. I’m a daily player already hooked. Love it.
Community: 4/10 – No guild system? Or I’m not far enough to have unlocked it? No chat system. They do have an official facebook page for fans. And there are plenty of ranked and scored competitions with other players. You do have a large friendlist capacity up to 200 people, but seems you can’t do much besides send eachother stamina, view photos/outfits, see your rankings, and vote/compete in the online competitions with your friends. Seems they could’ve done more here honestly.
It’s a great time to be a girl gamer. We are seeing a huge influx of anime otome dressup games. These 3 are all coming in June and July of 2021. Be sure to Pre-register for amazing gifts.
Finally, an English release of Shining Nikki! This is the 3D version of Love Nikki. It has been out in Asia for about 2 years already. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever see an English version. I played the Asian versions for a bit and it’s very fun to see Nikki in 3D and animated and moving. She’s even cuter now. Sign up now at https://nikki4.playpapergames.com/m/home Get ready to play Shining Nikki when it launches on July 8, 2021.
Remember, I just mentioned this game a few weeks ago in my post about all of the Atelier games. I mentioned there’s a Japanese online game but that the English version release date said TBA (To Be Announced) – Well, the wait is over. The global English version of Atelier Online has officially been announced. You can sign up here https://atelier-online.boltrend.com/en Also Boltrend has an Arc the Lad game that just came out last month. But apparently, the arc the lad game just shut down in Japan a few days ago… so that doesn’t bode well for the global version. Still interesting, as Arc the Lad was a game I mentioned in a blog post here wondering whatever happened to that series. Atelier Online Global is also launching on July 8, 2021 – the same day as Shining Nikki.
Another one that fans have been anxiously awaiting. Alice Closet’s official English release is right around the corner. Sign up at http://www.alice-closet.com/ This one looks super cute for anyone into Japanese lolita fashion. It’s release date is June 17, 2021. Character design is by Arina Tanemura. I’m a huge fan of Full Moon Wo Sagashite, so I am familiar with some of her work. The wait is almost over. The game launches one week from today. I can’t wait!
It’s going to be a great summer of games for us girls. Be sure to check out all of the other anime dressup games I’ve reviewed over the years. Maybe you’ll find a new favorite game to play on those long hot summer days. Stay cool!
I think Flipped In Love, Project Star, and Starry Love are all the same game – but different! The gameplay in Flipped In Love (and possibly Project Star, I haven’t gotten far enough to unlock it yet) allows you to breed rare cats that get genetic markings and stats from their parents. Obviously, that’s not the main feature in Flipped In Love. But it’s probably my favorite feature in the game.
Flipped In Love is first and foremost an anime dressup game. You unlock rare outfits and accessories and dressup your avatar to compete in fashion battles. You recruit team members, join guilds, garden, cook, and as mentioned raise cats. But the other big chunk of the game is that it’s also an anime otome dating sim game. There’s 4 guys you can date from the childhood friend to the tsundere to the childlike one to the artistic one. These 4 stereotypes are featured in multiple similar games, Flipped in Love, Project Star, and Starry Love, as well as Wannabe Challenge and Mr Love Queen’s Choice… and probably many more games.
The reason that I’m fairly certain this little trio of games is somehow related is that the story and premise in each of them are almost identical. Flipped In Love and Project Star literally have the exact same story. You fall into the water and die. In Flipped In Love you wake up in someone’s body. In Project Star you wake up in your own body but 5 years in the past. Starry Love has you run into traffic and get hit by a car and wake up in your own body in the past also. In each case it is your boyfriend who betrays you who leads to your death and your goal is to become a top star to get revenge on your ex. All 3 games you’re an idol. In Project Star and Starry Love you’re a live streamer. In Flipped in Love I think you’re an idol singer but still similar concept. The gameplay in Project Star and Starry Love has you performing live streams. All 3 games let you admire other players in the rankings for free diamonds. Flipped in Love and Starry Love have the lifetime membership card to get rid of ads with a one time purchase (and other benefits). Flipped In Love and Project Star have a cat raising feature I think (I have to get to chapter 9 in Project Star to unlock the cats). Gameplay is similar in all 3 games. Dressup, play gacha, date, build a guild, fashion battles, story progression, etc.
I’ve seen this before. Romantic Diary also had another version of the game, with a different name, both available in the US app stores. But Romantic Diary and its clone were exact clones. That’s NOT the case with Flipped In Love and its similar entries. Here’s how they differ from each other. Each of these games has completely different graphics. That’s the most notable difference. Project Star has very cute pastel kinda more anime looking graphics. Completely different character designs in all 3 games. Different character names. Different fashion items. Flipped In Love is still anime, but more modern like real red carpet type looks and less anime or fantasy looking items. I would say the same is true also of Starry Love. Yes it’s anime still but less of the big round cute eyes and more realistic looking hair and eyes and so on. And each game has a different soundtrack and different voice actors too.
Perhaps they were part of a series of games, and each installment in the series got picked up for localization by a different company and hence the different names and different graphics and so on.
Anyways regardless, all 3 games are a lot of fun and highly recommended to all girl gamers who love anime dressup games or otome dating sims. I’ve put the most time into Starry Love since I played it first. I had the other apps on my phone but didn’t get around to checking them out until a few days ago. I think out of the 3, Project Star is my favorite for the graphics, and Flipped In Love is my favorite for the gameplay – but if I get further into Project Star and see the cat feature is the same or better than Flipped in Love, I’d definitely recommend Project Star as the best of the 3. But I won’t stop playing any of them, especially not Starry Love because I’m in the top 20 players in the world in that game.
I do recommend the lifetime pass for both Starry Love and Flipped In Love. It’s so nice to play without ads! And it’s just a one time $9.99 price – worth it! Plus you get free items and diamonds every day. I did not buy the monthly passes – I have enough monthly subscriptions as it is already. LOL. But I’m tempted to buy it in Flipped In Love to get more diamonds so I can unlock more cat feeding slots in cat city.
So let’s dive into looking at Flipped In Love.
Overall:
Geeky: 4/5 – Flipped In Love’s gameplay outshines the other similar games. It offers so many gameplay features that they recently redesigned the interface because it was becoming cluttered with buttons. It’s still a casual mobile game at heart, but for a dressup game there’s a lot of stuff to do. One of the best features is raising and breeding cats. Extremely addictive and unique gameplay. They are working on improving the game all the time. Right now they are offering rewards to help them with typos or Engrish since English is not their first language.
Sweetie: 5/5 – So cute, so many outfits, so many things to do. The cats! The cats! Did I mention you can breed cats? LOL I like that almost more than the main gameplay lol.
Gameplay:10/10 This game offers so much to do that it can be a little overwhelming. Here are just a few of the things you can experience in Flipped In Love. The most important feature is dressing up your avatar. You can unlock new outfits by completing story or event challenges, as well as through quests and leveling up. But, the most common way to earn new outfits is by playing the Gacha which rewards random items.
The next big aspect of this game is that it is an otome dating sim game for girls. You can date 4 different cute guys to get to learn more about them, unlock event scenes, and level them up to help improve your overall market value.
Market value is used to rank you online with other players. You can increase your market value by unlocking new outfits, dating the guys, completing quests and events, or progressing through the story.
There are also several side characters who will join your team. These, like the guys, can also be leveled up to increase your market value. Side characters can take classes at a university to boost their stats, or you can spend experience points to level them up.
The guys and various side characters have skills that unlock as they level up which boost other party members’ skills and abilities.
Take your team into battle in story mode against NPCs or PK red carpet events against other players. There’s also guild events such as team building and team battles to see whose guild is the best.
There’s a chat system in the game, and unlike the other 2 similar games, you can upload your own photo as your avatar – mine is of my cat right now. You can change chat bubbles and frames just like in Starry Love.
Eventually your characters will need to be promoted to unlock new levels and higher skills. The trophy items can be combined to merge them into higher level items to keep progressing. This is also the same in Starry Love.
Wishing for new outfits in the gacha system is way easier and quicker in Flipped In Love. Starry Love gives you one free gacha draw a day, but Flipped In Love has special wish tickets you can earn fairly easy. I get multiple 10-wish draws (for 4 star items) each day. On top of that, Flipped In Love lets you play two different Gacha for free each day.
Speaking of free – Flipped In Love also lets you play the cat blind box for free about once every 2 days. Right now there’s 3 or 4 different themes going on – I don’t know if they are limited time themes or a constant in the game. Each theme has 10 different cats to collect, including one rare 5 star cat in each blind box.
You can also go on tour, where you will find many nice items, including rare cats, each day for absolutely free. You also find diamonds, coins, stamina, and props for your characters.
But back to the cats. There’s a place in Flipped In Love called Cat City. Here’s where the magic happens. LOL. It’s my favorite! Any unnamed cats you’ve found will be waiting for you in the cat hostel. Give them a name and start feeding them to level them up to maturity. Even if you don’t or can’t feed them, they will eventually mature on their own. But feeding them speeds up the process a great deal. It’s still really slow though. I paid a lot of diamonds to unlock about 10 slots to feed multiple cats – and they’re all full right now and waiting to grow up. I have one unnamed cat waiting for me back in the cat hostel. I think the tutorial said you can have 200 waiting for you. If for some reason you don’t like a cat, you can sell them to the NPC to get cat coins which can be used to purchase fertilizer, seeds, cat food, or cat bells.
The seeds and fertilizer are used in cat city to grow ingredients to make your own cat food. Seeds still grow even without fertilizer, but again, fertilizing the fields speeds up the process. You can then harvest and take your ingredients to the chef who will create cat food.
The bells are used to find a mate for your adult cats. Now here’s the really cool part!! You are breeding them with another real life player who is also breeding their cats. Different levels of cat bells can be used to find more rare cats. Cat bells, and food, and seeds can all be merged to level them up. The higher the better.
After mating, you and the other person both select one of the two offspring to raise. First come first serve, so be fast to get the cat you really want! The cat will automatically go to your hostel where it will wait for you to give it a name and start leveling it up.
The kittens through breeding inherit the parents markings and also statistics.
And the process continues.
After a cat has been mated one time, that is it. It is retired and goes to the cat hostel where you can still view them. Remember your hostel is limited to 200 cats – whether they’re retired adults or unnamed kittens – so eventually you’re sadly going to have to sell some of your cats.
I think it’d be fun and neat if we could adopt other players’ cats but that’s not a feature (yet) in Flipped In Love.
So that’s it for Cat City.
Back to some of the other features of the game. There are parties which help you earn items and increase your market value. Some of the parties are even cross server. Parties are one of the big features of the game. You can even chat with other players during the parties.
There’s also events to praise or gossip about different players or fight for advertising space. It seems also a new feature is coming soon called Group Battle. All of these things help improve your rank, lower opponents ranks, and bring in coins, diamonds, or rare items.
I think that covers the basics of gameplay.
Story: 7/10 – There are some typos and weird little awkward moments in the story due to the translation. But, the creators are aware and working hard to improve these mistakes. They’re actually offering rewards right now for helping to find such mistakes so that they may be fixed. The story is good, but not unique at all. When I played Flipped In Love the next game on my Iphone right next to Flipped In Love was Project Star… I played Flipped In Love for maybe 20 minutes the first time I launched the app. Then I closed it and opened Project Star…. and woahhhhh Deja Vu…….
In both games you drown in the water. In Flipped In Love you wake up in a stranger’s body. In Project Star, you are still you, but you have traveled into the past 5 years ago. Both games you’re an idol. Both games your boyfriend betrayed you ultimately leading to your death. Both games you want to become an idol to get revenge on your boyfriend.
Alright simple enough. There’s a lot of drama and sneaky people who pretend to be your friends but really jealous of your fame, beauty, and success. There’s a whole lot of backstabbing in this game. But it does make for a deliciously devious game of cat and mouse.
Characters: 5/10 – The characters are stereotypical of these types of games and don’t really shine or stand out in any way from other Otome games. There’s also one plus sized NPC who the others treat rudely, which as a plus sized woman myself, that kinda offends me. The artwork is good, but not as good as some other games.
The guys you can date are handsome, but very much cookie cutter. The tsundere that everyone seems to love – which I can’t stand because I’ve been in physically and mentally abusive relationships – this is not cute or romantic. I know Tsundere or TsunTsun is typical in anime and Korean dramas, but I don’t like those characters. Ugh. He is the most popular by far, as evidenced in the “cheer for him” event going on right now.
Then there’s the childhood best friend – he’s actually my favorite – but still so stereotypical. Every Otome game’s got one, and it’s usually the main cannon route. Plus side, he’s a hot doctor too haha. I like him. He’s sweet. Romance should be sweet. Not Tsundere and rude / borderline verbally abusive.
I think so many people are drawn to Tsundere because on occasion they do show a tender soft side. They do love the main character. And they get embarrassed easily and can’t open their hearts easily which makes them act cold. OK I get that there is some fantasy about “the one who got away” or “unrequited love” or something of that nature that girls feel drawn to these “challenging men” not just in this damn game, but in real life.
I’ve dated probably each and everyone one of these stereotypes in real life, from the childlike happy go lucky type to the “dark mysterious brooding” type – and I have seen that dark mysterious brooding – can well, as the description says – be too dark sometimes. But I’ve also dated someone that maybe just wasn’t great at expressing their feelings and emotions (which could fit the Tsundere also) – and as women we want to nurture and create a safe place for our partners. But at that time, I was also closed off and hurting and not the most open person.
The me now, would have been really good for that person back then to get them to feel comfortable and vulnerable, but the me now, is only the me now, because of the different life experiences the me now has, that the me then was lacking. I do think back like if I had done this or done that or said this or that, things maybe would have went differently. But I am completely happy and marrying my “best friend” in 3 short months now. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to the best friend type of guy in this game. Everyday, smiling and warm, and cute little inside jokes and sayings and things. Every day lots of cute texts and checking in on me. Reaching out to me, expressing their feelings, etc. I need that “reassurance” – but I never have to ask for it – it comes naturally every single day. I’m so thankful for that. It’d been a few years since I’d had that before meeting this person. I like the calm, gentle, constant compassion and love.
I’m done playing guessing games and chasing after people who are hot and cold – maybe that’s why I hate Tsundere and TsunTsun characters so much – hits too close to home maybe.
But to each their own. With 4 guys to choose from in the game, you can find the one you like best!
By the way, I didn’t rate it low because it had a Tsundere. I rated it low because every one of these Otome Games have the same stereotyped characters: Tsundere, childhood friend, sportsy active competitive type, and arrogant artist type. Like literally every Otome has these – including some of my favorites like Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side.
The story is mildly interesting, and creates drama and backstory for the characters which does help them to stand out a little bit, but just not enough. In the end, they all feel pretty flat still, especially when compared to other Otome Games. If you’re going to be “basic” you have to be “a better basic bitch” lol. You have to be the best at what you do. And uhm no, sorry. There’s not like award winning writing here for story or character development. That’s a hard fail. If I want to play a game specifically to enjoy these stereotypes for story and character alone, this won’t be top of my play list. But, I think the reason I keep playing is because of gameplay.
The characters are “good enough” but far from great. Especially when there’s legit like 3 games that have the exact same story and characters just different names and different artwork (and thankfully some different gameplay) That’s why it’s a solid 5 here for characters. Just kinda middle of the road.
Graphics: 10/10 – I can’t complain about graphics. Lots of dressup items – more than in Starry Love – and the cats are so cute and plump I want to hug them lol. There are some super cute dressup items too. Panda purses, cat purses, mickey like ears, etc.
Music: 5/10 – It can be repetitive – especially when mating the cats. I feel like its a 5 second “song” on loop, with a very obvious “stop” and then the music resumes after a split second. One and on for several minutes. And it’s a very… odd… song. With cats meowing. It could be cute but ventures into annoying quickly. The main theme when in the city is VERY pretty and relaxing – but also similarly short – but less abrasive. Less obvious when it’s beginning it’s reloop. It’s a soft beautiful piano theme. I really love the main theme. But most other music – I’ll pass on it. It’s all much too short. Anti-Fans theme is another example of a “song” that’s less than 10 seconds long.
Voice Acting: 7/10 – I think it’s good. I’m not used to hearing Chinese as much as I am used to listening to Japanese (anime) or Korean (Kdrama and Kpop), but I think it seems to fit the characters. I just wish there were more lines that were voiced really.
Replay Value: 10/10 – I’ll play with the cats every day – they’re so cute. I like that you can make totally unique random cats by breeding, which opens up way more possibilities than the basic cats or blind box cats themselves. Nice. My first baby was a male who had glasses and brown “bangs” or “fringe” and flowers on his head and like… christmas lights on his tail…. and tiny rainbows on his feet…. I named him Elton after Elton John – it seemed fitting LOL. I had already found one cat on tour who was blonde with cat-eye shaped sunglasses that I’d named Gaga – so they can sing “A Sine” I guess lol. XD.
But cats aside, there’s other great reasons to play this game, constant events, rare gacha for limited items, dressing up, progressing through the story, chatting with and playing with (or against) other players and so on. The gameplay in this dressup game definitely shines. I find myself playing it more than a lot of my other dressup games when I get a chance. Check it out, I think you will like it too. Just search for Flipped In Love in the IOS or Google game stores.
I just started playing Birdie Crush a few weeks ago. It has a lot going for it. First of all it has an awesome opening song that I absolutely adore. Secondly it has cute anime graphics with various costumes and equipment to collect that make it in part at least a Dressup game. Thirdly, even people that don’t like anime, like birdie crush for the golf gameplay such as my fiancé – finally found a cute game he will play with me lol .
Well what is there to say about birdie crush that hasn’t already been said? Lol. It’s a golf game. It’s free and available on both iPhone and android mobile devices. It has cute anime graphics and rare event items and costumes.
There’s some skill involved in the gameplay which makes it fun and challenging. There’s also different types of gameplay from solo to playing friends to limited time events, season tournaments, and more.
I like birdie crush golf a lot but there’s some room for improvement such as more playable characters and more Dressup items. But it’s a new game so I suspect we may see both those things in the future.
Check out birdie crush golf and let me know your thoughts!
Overall: 63/80 79% C+ Very Good Game For Girls
Geeky: 5/5 – cute 3D colorful and detailed graphics, great music, and challenging gameplay with lots of different gameplay modes
Sweetie: 5/5 Anime graphics, Dressup items, rockin anime theme song, cute characters, fun gameplay
Graphics: 8/10 – really nice 3D graphics in an anime style. Deducted a few points because could use a few more playable characters and costumes.
Gameplay: 8/10 has a little lag but offers a lot of surprisingly fun and challenging gameplay with lots of events and modes and tournaments and crafting and upgrading gear and the whole costume Dressup thing yeah it has plenty to do. Really enjoy the gameplay here. Deduct some points for lag issues.
Story: 5/10 honestly I just skip the story in this one. It’s okay but I just want to play the game. I have other games whose story I would want to read. This one isn’t terrible but not great either.
Characters: 8/10 so cute! Only one boy though! And only four characters total. Give us more characters please!
Music: 10/10 honestly I love this music !!!
Voice Acting: 4/10 – Korean voice overs are good but the lil sound effects like yawns and clearing throat get super repetitive and downright annoying. It’d be okay if it happened less frequently lol.
Replay value: 10/10 always new events and limited items to get. Fun times.
I just started playing “Starry Love” yesterday after seeing a Facebook ad. It’s a brand new game from someone named Modo Games whom I’ve never heard of.
The gameplay is quite similar to Love Niki, or Mr Love Queen’s Choice or Wanabe Fashionista… all of which I’ve reviewed here and all of which I definitely recommend.
When I started playing Starry Love there was only one review and it was a one star rating. Maybe someone was confused and thought one meant good and 5 meant bad.
There’s not much bad about this game so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.
The worst part of this game is the chat filters which block weird common words such as game or server as well as av such as the word have will be h**ve making it difficult to chat in the game.
On the plus side, the chat is active and community seems friendly. Today there was discussion about Kdrama and Anime which is right in my wheel house of interests.
The search function and guild function is also pretty flawed making it darn near impossible to recruit people for your guild or find a guild to join.
Another negative is a lot of game’s content is only unlocked later into the game’s story. There is plenty to do, but it might not seem that way at first.
Lastly, the writing is hit or miss with some glaring typos or awkward wording. The story itself is pretty interesting.
You are a model who under distress from catching her boyfriend with another woman, runs into the road and is hit by a truck. When you wake up, you’ve gone several years into the past when you were just getting started as an online streamer.
Most of the activities revolve around this streaming and modeling theme. You can get ideas for new live streams, invite cohosts, talk to your fans, join other live streams, and so on. It’s worth mentioning that this is all within the context of a fantasy world and fantasy characters and you yourself need not appear on camera or anything yourself.
You recruit other characters to help with your live streams and some of them you can even date. All of them you can level up to increase your overall stats and popularity and viewer count. Also they will be useful later in fashion battles and server events.
Speaking of server events, there are a lot of them. There’s four going on right now, some focus on story some focus on spending in game currencies and some focus on community events.
You can unlock special outfits titles and items by participating in these events.
Artwork is all very cute and colorful. Again it is similar to love niki or mr love queen.
Overall: 54/70 77%
Geeky: 2/5 Artwork is good but chat and community features are severely flawed and limited.
Sweetie: 5/5 Cute graphics and interesting story. Dressup game is sure to please fans of love niki and mr love Queen’s choice.
Gameplay: 9/10 I think once you get far enough into the game to unlock all the content there is plenty of things to do from modeling to fashion battles, dating, story events, photo shoots, live streams, cohosts, support crew, tea parties, shopping, and more. It honestly in my opinion has more things to do than love niki or mr love Queen’s choice. The only option it may be missing is to decorate your room or house like love niki has, and it seems like that gameplay element could fit well with boosting stats and live stream concept to me. Maybe we will see it in the future as this is still a new game.
Story: 7/10 I like the theme of reincarnation or alternative reality and there are currently over 30 chapters to read. But the story is pretty flawed by typos and some grammar issues.
Characters: 6/10 Most of the characters are interesting and developed well as the story goes on. Sometimes some of the characters including your main character are rude or mean, I’m not sure it’s intentional or if it comes across wrong due to being lost in translation but it can put me off. And much like a game I recently reviewed it, this one also makes fun of overweight characters which is not very appealing .
Graphics: 9/10 Enjoy the graphics a lot, some do get reused a bit but the graphics are one of the highlights of the game for me
Music: 6/10 Slightly above average, not annoying, peaceful music that sets the tone of the themes in the game.
Replay Value: 10/10 with numerous events and new content added all the time, some of which is very limited, sometimes even one per server, this game has a high replay value.
Overall: 54/70 77%
If they fix up some of the actual interface and gameplay mechanics it’d easily be in the 80s or 90s ; it’s a super fun game. Check it out if you get a chance.
I just started playing “Starry Love” yesterday after seeing a Facebook ad. It’s a brand new game from someone named Modo Games whom I’ve never heard of.
The gameplay is quite similar to Love Niki, or Mr Love Queen’s Choice or Wanabe Fashionista… all of which I’ve reviewed here and all of which I definitely recommend.
When I started playing Starry Love there was only one review and it was a one star rating. Maybe someone was confused and thought one meant good and 5 meant bad.
There’s not much bad about this game so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.
The worst part of this game is the chat filters which block weird common words such as game or server as well as av such as the word have will be h**ve making it difficult to chat in the game.
On the plus side, the chat is active and community seems friendly. Today there was discussion about Kdrama and Anime which is right in my wheel house of interests.
The search function and guild function is also pretty flawed making it darn near impossible to recruit people for your guild or find a guild to join.
Another negative is a lot of game’s content is only unlocked later into the game’s story. There is plenty to do, but it might not seem that way at first.
Lastly, the writing is hit or miss with some glaring typos or awkward wording. The story itself is pretty interesting.
You are a model who under distress from catching her boyfriend with another woman, runs into the road and is hit by a truck. When you wake up, you’ve gone several years into the past when you were just getting started as an online streamer.
Most of the activities revolve around this streaming and modeling theme. You can get ideas for new live streams, invite cohosts, talk to your fans, join other live streams, and so on. It’s worth mentioning that this is all within the context of a fantasy world and fantasy characters and you yourself need not appear on camera or anything yourself.
You recruit other characters to help with your live streams and some of them you can even date. All of them you can level up to increase your overall stats and popularity and viewer count. Also they will be useful later in fashion battles and server events.
Speaking of server events, there are a lot of them. There’s four going on right now, some focus on story some focus on spending in game currencies and some focus on community events.
You can unlock special outfits titles and items by participating in these events.
Artwork is all very cute and colorful. Again it is similar to love niki or mr love queen.
Overall: 54/70 77% C+ “Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 2/5 Artwork is good but chat and community features are severely flawed and limited.
Sweetie: 5/5 Cute graphics and interesting story. Dressup game is sure to please fans of love niki and mr love Queen’s choice.
Gameplay: 9/10 I think once you get far enough into the game to unlock all the content there is plenty of things to do from modeling to fashion battles, dating, story events, photo shoots, live streams, cohosts, support crew, tea parties, shopping, and more. It honestly in my opinion has more things to do than love niki or mr love Queen’s choice. The only option it may be missing is to decorate your room or house like love niki has, and it seems like that gameplay element could fit well with boosting stats and live stream concept to me. Maybe we will see it in the future as this is still a new game.
Story: 7/10 I like the theme of reincarnation or alternative reality and there are currently over 30 chapters to read. But the story is pretty flawed by typos and some grammar issues.
Characters: 6/10 Most of the characters are interesting and developed well as the story goes on. Sometimes some of the characters including your main character are rude or mean, I’m not sure it’s intentional or if it comes across wrong due to being lost in translation but it can put me off. And much like a game I recently reviewed it, this one also makes fun of overweight characters which is not very appealing .
Graphics: 9/10 Enjoy the graphics a lot, some do get reused a bit but the graphics are one of the highlights of the game for me
Music: 6/10 Slightly above average, not annoying, peaceful music that sets the tone of the themes in the game.
Replay Value: 10/10 with numerous events and new content added all the time, some of which is very limited, sometimes even one per server, this game has a high replay value.
Overall: 54/70 77% C+ “Good Game For Girls”
If they fix up some of the actual interface and gameplay mechanics it’d easily be in the 80s or 90s ; it’s a super fun game. Check it out if you get a chance.
The sequel to KLab’s smash hit Love Live School Idol Festival, Love Live All Stars takes it to the next level with fully animated Live2D characters that dance around on the screen.
Like its predecessor, Love Live School Idol Festival, Love Live All Stars is a card collecting rhythm game with cute anime girls to collect.
The new installment in Love Live has a few key differences from the original, most notably is the animation. There’s also costumes you can unlock for your girls to wear and a new voltage gameplay system that allows you to score more points.
The key elements are the same with perhaps more focus on story this time around. You play through the story to unlock new songs. You train your girls and level them up and unlock new skills with a branching skill path for each character.
The girls are back and cuter than ever with the addition of the full body animated dance routines and new cards to collect.
As always the game is fully voiced and the focus is on singing. I could be wrong but I think each voice actress records each song because it sounds like the vocals changed when I had different girls in the center, especially on solo songs. That’s a lot of dedication if that’s correct and it adds some new variation on some of our favorite love live songs. Again could be wrong but sounded that way to me unless it’s my imagination.
The enhanced visuals and enhanced voice acting and addition of costumes and a skill tree for your characters really adds a lot to the new game.
Who’s your favorite waifu? Mine is still Kotori but my best card right now is Mari.
Intermingle with school idols, encourage them, and listen to their worries so you become their number one supporter. Newly acquired members that can only be seen here will be added frequently! Not only can you train newly joined members to add energy to the live performances, outfits and voices that can be used in live performances will be added frequently along with new episodes!
Overall Score: 82/90 91% A- Excellent Game For Girls
Geeky: 5/5 – geeks will love the enhanced visuals and more challenging game play with additions like skill unlocking and branching skill trees
Sweetie: 5/5 – Girls will love the adorable characters and colorful graphics and enhanced focus on story
Overview: 10/10 – All stars retains much of what made LLSIF such a success and enhances it with all new animation and gameplay elements.
Story: 4/10 – Although there is more focus on the story, it’s still not really very interesting – I read the first 2 chapters and now just skip through all of the stories.
Characters: 10/10 – all of your favorite idols from U’s and Aquours return joined by an all new group of girls from Nijigasaki High School. And now they’re cuter than ever
Gameplay: 8/10 – Gameplay is enhanced by letting you train your idols in new ways, with special ability slots that force you to pick and choose which skills to allow your girls to lean, and a branching skill tree that allows you to control how your girls grow. There’s also new dressup elements and a few new gameplay elements within the live shows, like the new voltage gauge. Gameplay however at times does still become very repetitive. I go through phases of wanting to play every day and then not touching it for weeks.
Music: 10/10 – many of your favorite songs return plus a few new songs have been added as well.
Voice acting 10/10 – all of the girls voices are so cute, and I think that perhaps the vocals of the songs change depending who you have equipped in your center stage. Or it seemed that way to me. If true, that’s a lot of time spent recording different versions of each song, plus all of the story dialogue.
Kawaii 10/10: Love Live is one of the cutest games/anime out there and my personal favorite game characters to cosplay as because they’re just so cute
Replay Value: 10/10 – There are many events with limited release cards and really no end to this game which gives it great replay value.
Overall Score: 82/90 91% A- Excellent Game For Girls
I recently received Starlight Stage A Pop Idol Card Game from RightStuf. RightStuf is one of the oldest and largest distributors of Otaku merchandise in the US. Check out their website at www.RightStuf.com for everything from anime, manga, action figures, Japanese candy, games, and more.
I decided to purchase Starlight Stage because I’m a fan of mobile idol games and idol anime such as Love Live, Utapri, Bang Dream, Ensemble Stars, and yes, Idol M@ster.
I do not know for sure if this board game is based on Idol M@ster but I suspect it is, since one of the early and most popular Idol M@ster mobile games is titled Idol M@ster Starlight Stage. For whatever reason though, if it is in fact at all related, they stripped it of the Idol M@ster title and just dubbed it Starlight Stage. Either way, related or not, if you love the mobile games or anime idol games, you’ll love Starlight Stage Card Game by Japanime Games.
The game is a little difficult to learn at first, and we had a lot of confusion trying to figure it out in the beginning, but once you get into the rhythm of the turn cycle it’s actually really simple. And it comes with these handy rule cards for each player to reference.
Starlight Stage is for 3-4 players with an average play time of 30-60 minutes. It is a great family game rated for ages 10+.
Designed by Hironatsu Yamada, Starlight Stage is a fast paced card drafting game with adorable idols. It’s your job to recruit idols with different talents and help them grow to become the top talent agency.
At the start of the game you get some low cost starter idols, but you’re going to want to save up some tokens for better idols as you play. The cost is always in the top left of the card.
One of the things that frustrated my friends is understanding the costs and talents of the cards. I found it pretty straight forward but there was a lot of discussion and confusion on how to pay the costs. Also we forgot to shuffle the first time – or just assumed we didn’t need to since it was brand new sealed in box – but yes you have to shuffle lol. We kept drawing the same cards DOH! lol.
The correct way to pay the cost (top left) is to count the talent points (in the kinda grayish box at the bottom of the idol card) and if that’s still not enough you can use tokens but if you use talent tokens you must discard the tokens and move the card whose talent you used to the anteroom (discard pile). You also can’t use tokens just by themselves without using the talents of an idol also, even if you have enough tokens to do so. You also cannot use multiple idols to pay for a card except for use in acquiring event cards.
The object of the game is to have the most popularity points. (Top right) Some cards give additional conditional popularity points at the conclusion of the game so make sure to include this in the final count.
You earn popularity points by earning fame cards and enhancing your existing idols or recruiting new ones.
My only real complaint with the game is that the artwork is really disjointed. Some of the artwork is lovely and others very amateurish because so many different artists worked on this game.
Here I have five cards pulled completely at random out of my game box and five different artists. A total of 13 artists were used to create the art for the cards and they each have different styles and skill levels.
I still love the game so much that I plan to purchase the expansions also available on RightStuf. I love anime idol “culture” and this game is very cute and fun to play. I highly recommend it to anyone who like me, also plays similar mobile rhythm games like Love Live School Idol Festival or the newly released Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars, or Idol M@ster, or Utapri, or Ensemble Stars, or Bang Dream.
I can’t get enough idol games and I’m not alone. I frequently cosplay as love live characters. My favorite is Kotori. And Smartdoll and Dollfie Dream both regularly release limited edition dolls from Love Live or Idol M@ster, not to mention the anime, nendoroid, plushies, and other merchandise, many of which I bet you can also find on RightStuf.com
I had downloaded this game, Mr. Love Queen’s Choice, months ago, and forgot all about it, until I saw someone on instagram sharing a video stream of the game, and I was like wow that game looks fun. Then I saw it was by Elex, makers of Love Nikki Dressup Queen, and I was like, I need to play this game. Since then, I’ve sunk probably 20 hours into the game and am really enjoying it so far.
Release Date: I think I must have used Qoo App, because I am already playing the game, and it says Pre-register on the play store. Or maybe I got into beta? I am not sure, anyways, yes I am playing the game currently. You can check Qoo App, which is probably how I got it. And yes I’m playing it in English.
Overall: 65/80 81% B- “Very Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 3/5 – Basically just a card collecting game, but with a twist, you manage a TV studio and produce various korean tv shows and commercials. The cards have different skills such as if they’re good at drama or news or gourmet cooking shows, as well as stats for things such as affinity, decision, creativity, and other skills that you would expect an idol to need to have to be successful. Some cards are more rare than others. You can also level the cards up. But nothing too complex here, definitely a casual game.
Sweetie: 5/5 – there are otome aspects, sometimes the guys will call you, and it is partially voiced in English. The artwork is beautiful, the voice acting is pretty good, and the whole Kdrama Producer thing really speaks to anyone who loves simulation games.
Overview: 10/10 Mr Love Queen’s Choice lets you run a TV studio and recruit idols, as mentioned, with various specialties and stats. The main draw of the game is collecting idols, progressing through the story, and dating the idols. I think it is a unique concept, there’s a lot of idol producer games, but not too many that take a TV Studio theme.
Gameplay: 10/10 Gameplay is pretty simple, and if you’ve played Love Nikki you will be instantly familiar with the user interface as it seems to just be reskinned and given a new theme. No, this one is not a dressup game, but the way you progress through various levels, and the achievement system and basic interface are very similar. I give full marks to Gameplay because I’m really enjoying the simulation aspects of this game, casting idols based on their strengths as to who will perform best at various assignments. You also can experience otome game elements by choosing how to respond to various parts of the story. I am not sure how much consequence your choices carry – if any at all. But it is a nice touch.
Story: 10/10 – Actually for a mobile game, I’m really enjoying the story. First of all, yes I love korean dramas, and the thought of a game that lets you simulate your own Kdrama production studio, is a huge draw, but that’s not the only thing the story offers. You are daughter of a famous Producer who has passed away and left the studio to you, but it is struggling to stay afloat. As you struggle to step out of your Father’s shadow, and take the company to new heights, you also have recurring dreams about an accident that happened when you were a child. You narrowly escaped death and now your thoughts turn to trying to remember the face of the man who saved you all those years ago. As you’re occupied in your thoughts one day, you find yourself again in a similar situation and rescued by a mysterious man. Could it be the same man from your past? And why do these men keep appearing around you? One such man tells you that you are an Evolver, and that you do not know it yet, but you will soon awaken to your true powers. Leaving you (both as the character and the person playing the game) completely confused as to what he meant. Strange things also begin happening around town – could this be related to your supposed powers? The story offers a lot of mystery, intrigue, romance, and suspense. I have not fast forwarded or skipped a single screen.
Characters: 5/10 – I’m giving 5 out of 10 here. I do like the characters, and I appreciate they have a strong tie to the story, but there just aren’t enough characters to collect for an idol simulation game. I hope they continue to add new characters in the future!
Music: 5/10 – Kinda average, I don’t have strong feelings either way. I usually play mobile games on silent while other people are watching movies or something else anyways.
Voice Acting: 7/10 – I do like that they have voice acting in the game. It is in English, and some of the actors are really good… But some of them are not as good… I’d say overall though the acting is better than expected for a mobile game.
Graphics: 10/10 – I love the artwork of this game.
I am really into Idol M@ster Shiny Colors. Unlike other Idol M@ster Mobile Games or Love Live or Bang Dream, Idol M@ster Shiny Colors is not a rhythm game. Idol M@ster Shiny Colors is a simulation game. You are a producer and “hire” idols to work in your studio. You draw the idols from gacha.
Please note – I did not realize this when I played, but on your first 10 play gacha, you get UNLIMITED REROLLS by pushing the YELLOW BUTTON on the left. Once you are happy with your cards press the PINK button on the right. I didn’t know, I pushed the pink button and I only had one SSR. I have been thinking about starting over (and still might) but I think I had some pre-registration bonuses and other things I don’t want to lose by restarting the game. So definitely do not push the Pink button until you have the cards you want.
Collecting and dressing girls is the main appeal of the game. But what do you do once you have a team of idol girls? You can plan their schedule – like a true sim game. You can have them practice, give interviews, or other activities to promote their stats.
The stats also can be increased in a final-fantasy-style skill tree system where you spend skill points to unlock stat-bonuses like +20 vocals, +30 dance, +20 vitality, etc. Depending what “path” you take in the skill tree your girls will develop in different ways.
You have one main girl, and several other backup idols. The main girl is the one to gain from this skill tree system.
Performing a live show is quite different from other mobile idol games. It’s more almost like an RPG battle. You tap a girl’s face below the stage and then tap a “skill” along the left such as vocal, dance, etc. Then a colored bar will appear on the screen, try to time it right and tap the screen when the needle on the bar is in the white color. White will give you the highest bonus. Purple the least, and yellow a medium boost. You can also “link” your girls’ actions to perform together in one attack. On the right hand side of the screen are some other bubbles. i think, but could be wrong since I do not read Japanese, but think that you are competing against other idols, and as you perform these skills you can defeat the idols to the right hand side. But if you miss, you will notice your own idols on the left dropping off the screen. Once all the idols either on left or right are gone, the performance ends.
The artwork in the game is very kawaii, and SSR and higher cards have movie animations, both when retrieving from the Gacha and also when performing a live show. All of the idols are animated with Live 2D which brings the characters to life on your screen. Many of the cards have “multiple characters” on one card, and when performing a live show, or meeting the idols out in town, you may see special scenes featuring the characters all together.
The voice acting and music is also top notch as you would expect from an idol game.
Replay value is high due to limited time events that offer rewards such as gacha tickets and gems.
My only complaint is a lot of the gacha are for paid gems only. However, the gems are fairly cheap, you can get a few hundred gems for under $10 – I haven’t bought any yet.
Will we see Idol M@ster Shiny Colors get an English release? Probably not. They tried years ago to release some Idol M@ster games in English and it flopped – however, they wanted $65 for a mobile game – And worst of all, after it flopped, they pulled it down and even if you had paid for it you could no longer play it!!! I wish they would try again but with some of their “FREE” mobile games, either Shiny Colors, Theater Days, or Cinderella Girls. — But my hope is slim… However there are 2 things that give me a little bit of hope. 1.) They seem to understand that there may be English speaking players playing Shiny Colors, when the visual novel aspects come up and the choices appear, they show in English an emoji and English words that say “Perfect” “Good” “Normal” so even if you can’t read the choices you can pick the best response still. And when purchasing diamonds, the currency is shown in US Dollars, not in Yen, which is odd. I’ve literally never seen that ever before in any Japanese games. Which is a nice touch so I don’t have to try to convert it, if I ever decide to buy diamonds. And 2.) I have hope because we are getting more and more and more English idol games, with the upcoming Revue Starlight Re LIVE, or last year’s Bang Dream Girl’s Band Party and Utapri, or the ever popular Love Live School Idol Festival, we continue to receive more and more games in this genre, but we have yet to receive any of the free Idol M@ster games… Shiny Colors is only a few weeks old in Japan, maybe in a year or two we could hope to see an English release? But it is still fairly easy to play even in Japanese. But it would be nice to be able to enjoy the story! I’d be more likely to buy paid gems if the game was in English.
Scorecard:
Overall Score 70/80 88% B+ “Very Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 5/5 – collect virtual waifus. very geeky. And simulation aspects set this game apart from other idol games.
Sweetie: 5/5 – the girls are adorable
Gameplay: 10/10 – finally a true simulation game, similar to Princess Maker or Tokimeki Memorial, you schedule your idol’s activities and watch their stats grow. I enjoy this much more than just a tappy tap rhythm game. Your girls develop in different ways based on your choices and I love that.
Story: 0/10 – I can’t read Japanese so this may not be a “fair score” but until an English version exists I can’t judge the storyline.
Characters: 10/10 – cute, gorgeous artwork, huge diversity of girls.
Artwork: 10/10 – cute, live 2D, SSR and higher cards have full movie animation sequences.
Voice Acting: 10/10 – all of the girls sound so cute.
Music: 10/10 – of course a game about idols is going to have catchy and cute music.
Replay Value: 10/10 – Lots of events, they give a lot of SR tickets and free Gems and the fact that this is a simulation game also adds replay value because the girls change based on decisions you make.
Overall Score 70/80 88% B+ “Very Good Game For Girls”
kawaiifluff 